It is well known that when individual slices of bacon or the like are packed with these slices in contact with one another and the package stored at refrigerated temperatures the slices tend to stick together and are very difficult to separate without rupturing the slices. It seems that the fat on the surfaces of the bacon strips congeals and acts in the nature of an adhesive.
One way in which the art has attempted to solve this problem is to hand pack the bacon putting waxed paper between the slices so that the slices do not actually come into contact with each other. But the labor involved in such a procedure is so great that this method as heretofore suggested is not economically practicable.
Attempts have also been made to devise machines which place strips of bacon between pleated paper folds as set forth in the U.S. Pat. No. 2,817,198, but the placement of slices in individual folds of paper gives rise to difficulties. Also, in the use of bacon so packaged it is necessary to hand remove the strips of bacon from within the folds.
Another factor which makes packing of bacon or the like difficult is the speed at which the slices of bacon are being made by the slicing machines in common use in meat packing plants. It is common that the slicing machines run at speeds of the order of 300-1000 slices per minute and such speeds make more difficult the problem of accurately placing the slices in a package.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a method and machine for packing materials such as bacon slices as they come at a rapid rate from the slicing machine, so that the slices will not be in direct contact with each other and sticking of the slices is minimized or eliminated, even when the packages are stored under refrigerated conditions. Other more specific objects will become apparent as this specification proceeds.
In my copending patent application, Ser. No. 262,656 filed June 14, 1972, and now abandoned, I describe a machine for packing items such as bacon slices in shingled relationship with a film being interleaved between the slices. The machine described in said application makes particular use of a stepped rotating roll.